Periscope

Many evangelical Christians agree that combating AIDS is "a moral imperative," as the aide puts it, but they shun a chief AIDS prevention tool: the condom. Believing condoms encourage promiscuity, they prefer abstinence-until-marriage education instead. The Bush plan, however, will rely on both. Bush's new policy won mostly glowing reviews from the global AIDS community. "The fact that he has said this is extraordinarily good news," says Sandra Thurman, president of the International AIDS Trust. "Now we have to ensure that the rhetoric becomes reality."

--Debra Rosenberg and Tamara Lipper

CAMBODIA

Anger Over Angkor

Sometimes, people actually listen to what actors have to say off-screen. That was the case last week in Cambodia, when two newspaper reports quoted Suwanan Kongying, a popular Thai TV actress, as allegedly saying that Cambodia had stolen the famous Angkor Wat temple from Thailand. Prime Minister Hun Sen quickly sprang to his nation's defense, declaring that Kongying was worth less than "grass." Hundreds of university students and street mobs responded, ransacking the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and several Thai properties. The carnage was a national embarrassment to Cambodia. Especially since Kongying denied making the comment in the first place.